San Antonio hosts Portland with 1-0 series lead
Portland Trail Blazers (42-40, eighth in the Western Conference) vs. San Antonio Spurs (62-20, second in the Western Conference)
San Antonio; Tuesday, 7 p.m. CDT
LINE: Spurs -11.5; over/under is 220.5
WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: Spurs lead series 1-0
BOTTOM LINE: The San Antonio Spurs host the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference first round with a 1-0 lead in the series. The Spurs won the last matchup 111-98 on Monday, led by 35 points from Victor Wembanyama. Deni Avdija led the Trail Blazers with 30.
The Spurs have gone 36-16 against Western Conference teams. San Antonio is fourth in the Western Conference with 28.1 assists per game led by Stephon Castle averaging 7.4.
The Trail Blazers are 29-23 against Western Conference opponents. Portland is seventh in the Western Conference scoring 115.5 points per game and is shooting 45.3%.
The Spurs are shooting 48.3% from the field this season, 1.2 percentage points higher than the 47.1% the Trail Blazers allow to opponents. The Trail Blazers average 115.5 points per game, 4.0 more than the 111.5 the Spurs allow to opponents.
TOP PERFORMERS: Wembanyama is averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.1 blocks for the Spurs. De’Aaron Fox is averaging 16.3 points over the last 10 games.
Avdija is scoring 24.2 points per game with 6.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists for the Trail Blazers. Jrue Holiday is averaging 17.7 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 41.3% over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Spurs: 8-2, averaging 123.0 points, 47.2 rebounds, 29.9 assists, 7.7 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 49.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.6 points per game.
Trail Blazers: 6-4, averaging 114.7 points, 45.6 rebounds, 25.3 assists, 9.3 steals and 6.1 blocks per game while shooting 46.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 106.4 points.
INJURIES: Spurs: Jordan McLaughlin: day to day (ankle), David Jones Garcia: out for season (ankle).
Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard: out for season (achilles).
It’ll be an international MVP for the NBA with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Wembanyama finalists
By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be adding a couple more trophies to his collection. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has a shot at doing the same.
And for the eighth consecutive year, the MVP will be an international one.
Gilgeous-Alexander — the reigning NBA MVP — is one of the finalists for this year’s top individual honor, along with Denver’s Nikola Jokic and the Spurs’ Wembanyama, who is also a finalist for defensive player of the year.
The NBA’s run of international MVPs started in 2019 and 2020 with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is of Greek and Nigerian descent. Jokic, a Serbian, won in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but since became a U.S. citizen, won the award in 2023, and Canada’s Gilgeous-Alexander won last year.
Gilgeous-Alexander is also a finalist for Clutch Player of the Year this season.
The NBA announced the finalists for seven individual awards Sunday night and will start announcing winners on Monday. The Defensive Player award — widely expected to be going to Wembanyama — comes out then, followed by Clutch Player on Tuesday and Sixth Man on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the appeal that got the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic onto the award ballots might earn him All-NBA, but did not lead to him getting his first MVP award. He was not among the top three in the balloting for MVP; voters cast their ballots last week after Doncic and Detroit’s Cade Cunningham won appeals that got them on the ballot even though they didn’t satisfy the terms of the NBA’s 65-game rule for eligibility in most cases.
Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards lost his appeal — but might get an award after all.
Edwards is a finalist for Clutch Player of the Year. He wasn’t on the ballot for MVP, All-NBA and other honors, but was on the Clutch ballot because those nominees were selected by the league’s coaches.